Our Plan for the Borough 2024-2028

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Welcome to this consultation on Our Plan for the Borough 2024-2028. This Plan sets out Ashford Borough Council’s priorities over the next four years as we face the dual challenges of climate and economy and strive to bring people and organisations together to achieve our vision: To make Ashford a place where people, business and nature can collectively thrive.

Three pillars support this vision and form the priorities against which progress will be measured:
Planet - Working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and creating places for nature will be at the heart of everything we do.
People - Listening and serving the Ashford community is our philosophy; we will make best use of available resources to build an equitable and fair society.
Place - We are planning for the future of our community and to make Ashford a place people are pleased to call home and love to visit.


"Our commitment to be net zero in our own operations by 2030 runs throughout the plan and our aspiration for the borough to be net zero by 2050 is a target that we will work tirelessly with residents and other organisations to achieve. At a local level, we will do all we can to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect nature in ways that will benefit the community and residents.

Listening to what matters most to our residents will help us deliver the services that are important to you. We will be open and honest about what we can and cannot do. Where the responsibility for a service lies with another organisation, we will work with them to make sure those services are meeting the needs of our community.

At a time when money is tight, both for residents and the council, we must be careful to ensure that our resources are used as efficiently as possible. We will continue to review how we deliver services, where we can be more cost effective and when working in partnership can improve and protect our services, while investing wisely in a resilient future for all.

We will seek to create places that offer mixed housing, spaces to be active, spaces to relax and spaces to build community, while also making space for nature. This will be central to future development in the borough. Our focus will be on the Kent Wool Growers site and Civic Centre redevelopment and we will start to put together a plan for the regeneration of Park Mall.

We want local democracy to be inclusive and welcoming for all and will be making it easier for local people to engage in decision making both in and out of the Council Chamber. Councillors must feel welcome and safe when representing our residents which why I felt it was important to add our council to the Debate not Hate campaign.

We will measure our progress annually against goals for each of our priorities and, whilst we may not be in control of the national picture of which our borough is a part, we are in control of how we react to the issues that affect us. We will be a listening, considerate and inclusive council."


Cllr Noel Ovenden, Leader of the Council.

Welcome to this consultation on Our Plan for the Borough 2024-2028. This Plan sets out Ashford Borough Council’s priorities over the next four years as we face the dual challenges of climate and economy and strive to bring people and organisations together to achieve our vision: To make Ashford a place where people, business and nature can collectively thrive.

Three pillars support this vision and form the priorities against which progress will be measured:
Planet - Working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and creating places for nature will be at the heart of everything we do.
People - Listening and serving the Ashford community is our philosophy; we will make best use of available resources to build an equitable and fair society.
Place - We are planning for the future of our community and to make Ashford a place people are pleased to call home and love to visit.


"Our commitment to be net zero in our own operations by 2030 runs throughout the plan and our aspiration for the borough to be net zero by 2050 is a target that we will work tirelessly with residents and other organisations to achieve. At a local level, we will do all we can to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect nature in ways that will benefit the community and residents.

Listening to what matters most to our residents will help us deliver the services that are important to you. We will be open and honest about what we can and cannot do. Where the responsibility for a service lies with another organisation, we will work with them to make sure those services are meeting the needs of our community.

At a time when money is tight, both for residents and the council, we must be careful to ensure that our resources are used as efficiently as possible. We will continue to review how we deliver services, where we can be more cost effective and when working in partnership can improve and protect our services, while investing wisely in a resilient future for all.

We will seek to create places that offer mixed housing, spaces to be active, spaces to relax and spaces to build community, while also making space for nature. This will be central to future development in the borough. Our focus will be on the Kent Wool Growers site and Civic Centre redevelopment and we will start to put together a plan for the regeneration of Park Mall.

We want local democracy to be inclusive and welcoming for all and will be making it easier for local people to engage in decision making both in and out of the Council Chamber. Councillors must feel welcome and safe when representing our residents which why I felt it was important to add our council to the Debate not Hate campaign.

We will measure our progress annually against goals for each of our priorities and, whilst we may not be in control of the national picture of which our borough is a part, we are in control of how we react to the issues that affect us. We will be a listening, considerate and inclusive council."


Cllr Noel Ovenden, Leader of the Council.

Page last updated: 24 Jun 2024, 01:55 PM